The sporting national treasure you might not have heard of, artist Charles Billich

Aug 24, 2016

KIEREN Perkins, Cathy Freeman and Steve Hooker are household names in Australian sport. But there’s another Aussie that has made a significant contribution to sports that you may not know.

Beyond art circles, you’d be hard-pressed to find an average sports fan familiar with the name, Charles Billich.

During the Rio Olympics however, it’s worth remembering how the Australian artist nicknamed ‘The Olympic Painter’ has significantly influenced the sporting world.

His pieces hang in The Vatican, the White House, the United Nations, and on the walls of palaces, embassies and galleries around the globe, and when it comes to ‘sports art’ few would have a collection of work as extensive as Billich.